Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Matt Kemp and Russell Martin each homered, doubled and drove in three runs, as the Los Angeles Dodgers topped the Chicago Cubs, 7-3, and handed Carlos Zambrano his first loss in almost two months.

Juan Pierre, Andre Ethier and Jeff Kent each collected a pair of hits and a run scored for Los Angeles, which has won the middle two contests of this four-game set and will go for the series win on Sunday.

Derek Lowe (4-5) picked up the win after giving up three runs on six hits in seven innings, with two walks and four strikeouts. With the win, Los Angeles moves to 3-3 on its current seven-game homestand.

Zambrano (8-2) had won seven straight decisions, and hadn't lost since an April 11 game against Philadelphia. The hard-throwing right-hander managed to navigate around trouble early on, but ended up allowing seven runs on 13 hits in 6 2/3 frames, despite walking one and striking out six.

"I'm sick and tired of making bad pitches. I didn't like the way I pitched," Zambrano said. "I didn't like the way I hung the pitches to Kemp and Martin. You make a mistake in the big leagues and you pay. I had the lead and I blew it up. It was my fault, let's move on."

Alfonso Soriano hit his 15th homer of the season for the Cubs, who have lost three of four after a nine-game win streak.

Zambrano fell to pieces in the seventh after striking out Delwyn Young in the leadoff spot. Pierre singled and stole second -- his 22nd stolen base of the season -- then scored on an Ethier single.

Ethier made it to second base on the play on a throwing error by Aramis Ramirez. The mishap paid off for Los Angeles; following a Kent pop out, Martin lined a single to right to push Ethier home and give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.

James Loney's single sent runners to the corners, and Kemp -- who was only eligible to play after appealing a suspension -- ripped a belt-high fastball over the center field wall.

"It felt really good," Kemp said. "We had a good team inning. Our pitchers are keeping us in the game and we have to score runs for them."

Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito protected the 7-3 edge by each pitching a scoreless inning of relief.

Zambrano was not sharp early, as he allowed six runners to reach base through the first four innings, though did not allow a run. Lowe only allowed one baserunner in the same span, but gave up the game's first run in the fifth.

The Dodgers starter dealt a leadoff walk to Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto followed with a single. After a Mike Fontenot bunt advanced the runners, Reed Johnson hit a ground out to plate Fukudome.

Soriano's leadoff homer in the sixth put the Cubs ahead 2-0.

But the Dodgers countered with power of their own in the home half. Martin followed a Kent single by blasting a hanging slider over the center field wall, tying the game.

Zambrano, though, gave the lead back to Chicago in the seventh. Fontenot hit a ground-rule double with one out, and Johnson singled to put runners at the corners.

Zambrano then grounded a single through the right side for one run, and a 3-2 Cubs lead, but the club didn't get any more runs out of the rally.